Music-sheet-driving mechanism.



A. E. WHITEHEAD.

MUSIC SHEET DRIVING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. 1915;

1,1 92,1 44. Patented July 25, 1916.

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% 26 I Mural/7 W/riiefiead (Mfihx o 34 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTCE.

AURA E. WHITEHEAD, 0F GHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MUSIC-SHEET-DRIVING MECHANISM.

Application filed March 29, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known. that 1, Anna E. Wnrrnnnan, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cool: and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in hiusic-SheetDriving Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for driving music sheets for automatic musical instruments, such for example as player pianos and the like.

Prominent objects of the invention are to provide a simple and practical construction of music sheet driving mechanism; to simplify the construction and reduce the cost of the same; to arrange for the easy operation of the mechanism to permit :forward movement and rewinding of the music sheet; and to secure the foregoing and other desirable results in a simple and expeditious manner.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of a music sheet driving mechanism or transmission, as it is sometimes called, embodying my invention; Figs. 2 and 3 are horir ontal sections taken respectively on lines 22 and 3-3 in Fig. 1.

In the drawings I show portions of two music rolls 1 and 2, which are understood to be the usual music roll and take-up spool re spectively of a player piano or similar in strument. The spool l is mounted on a spindle 2 carrying a bevel gear 3. This bevel gear 3 is adapted to mesh with another gear 4; mounted on a vertically arranged spindle 5. This spindle 5 also carries a bevel. gear (3 below the gear 4, and this gear 6 is adapted to. mesh with another bevel gear 7 carried by the spindle 8 for the takeup spool 92. The gears 6 and 7 are shown meshing with one another, but the gears 3 and l: are shown out of mesh. At the upper end of the spindle 5 is mounted another bevel gear 9 which meshes with a gear 10 carried on a spindle 11, which is understood to be either the driving shaft of a motor or a shaft connected. with a motor by which power is supplied to advance or rewind the music sheet. Thus it will be seen that the shaft 5 is driven by the shaft 11 through the gears 9 and 10, and when the shaft 5 is in the position shown in Fig. 1, the gear 6 will drive the gear 7 and thus cause a forward movement of the music sheet, which will be Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1916.

Serial No. 17,587.

slow because of the relatively small size of the gear 6 and large size of the gear 7 The shaft 5 is arranged, however, so that it may be shifted vertically and thus when elevated thegear l: will be thrown into mesh with the pinion 3 and the gear 6 out of mesh with the gear 7. This will discontinue the forward movement of the music sheet, and cause a rewinding of the same by means of the intermeshing gears 3 and 4, and in view of the relatively large size of the gear i and small size of the gear 3 this rewinding movement will be speedy. Bv adjusting the relative sizes of the gears o, 4:, 6 and 7, the relative speeds of advance and rewind of the music sheet may obviously be varied or determined as desired. To permit the elevation of the shaft 5 without throwing the gears 9 and 10 out of mesh, the gear 9 is carried by a sleeve 12 which is slidable on the shaft 5 and arranged for rotation therewith by means of a feather 14-. The sleeve 12 is engaged by a bracket 15 holding said sleeve in fixed po sition. The bracket 15 is mounted on a block 16 carried by an arm 17 on the up right 18 forming a part of the framework of the structure. A spring 20 rests upon the upper end of the shaft 5 so as to tend to push said shaft always downwardly. The shaft 5 may be raised and lowered by various arrangements, an advantageous form of which I show in the drawings as consisting of a lever 22 pivoted to an arm 23, the end of the lever engaging a collar 24: on the lower end of the shaft 5. A link 25 eX- tends to a convenient place for operation either by other mechanism or by the hand.

It will he understood that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

lVhat I claim is:

1. The combination with the spools for the music sheet, of a longitudinally adjustable shaft and gearing on said shaft and on the spindles of said spools, said gears being of different sizes with relation to each other, said gearing being thrown into and out of mesh by the longitudinal movement of said shaft and means provided at opposite ends of the shaft whereby said shaft is actuated in opposite endwise direction.

2. The combination. with the spools for the traveling music sheet, of a movable driving member and means whereby said driving member may engage said spools for driving the same at relatively different speeds, one

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of said spools being engaged while the other is disengaged, and vice versa, said means being provided at the ends of said movable member.

3. The combination with the music spools of a movable driving member and differential gearing between said spools, said gearing being adapted to be thrown into and out of operation by the movement of members provided at opposite ends of the movable member.

l. The combination with the music spools and the spindles therefor of gears carried by said spindles, a longitudinally movable shaft carrying relatively different sized gears arranged to mesh with said gears on said spindles, the gears on said shaft being thrown into and out of engagement with the gears on said spindles by means whereby longitudii'ral movement is imparted to said shaft, means for driving said shaft in opposite directions, said means including a spring and a lever provided at opposite ends of said shaft, and means for preventing a disengagement of said driving means when said sha ft is moved longitudinally.

5. The combination with the music spools and spindles for the same, of relatively different sized gears mounted on said spindles, a longitudinally movable shaft provided with gears adapted to mesh with the gears on said spindles, said gears on said shaft be ing thrown into and out of mesh with said music roll gears by a longitudinal move ment of said shaft, a driving gear mounted on said shaft, said driving gear being mounted slidably on said shaft to permit longitudinal movement of the latter, and means for preventing longitudinal movement on the part of said gear when said shaft is moved longitudinally, said means including a stationary bracket having members which engage the opposite ends of said gear..

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 6th day of March, A. D., 1915.

AURA E. \VHITEHEAD.

Vitness:

A. L. J ONES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthefCommissionerof Patents, Washington, D. G. 

